


Sibling Rivalry

by nirejseki



Category: Tortall - Tamora Pierce
Genre: F/M, M/M, Thom is just trying to cheer Alanna up, but also he's an asshole, set immediately after In the Hand of the Goddess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-10
Updated: 2019-02-10
Packaged: 2019-10-25 17:32:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17729654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nirejseki/pseuds/nirejseki
Summary: Jonathan's life is very hard.





	Sibling Rivalry

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Seika](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seika/gifts).



It occurs to Jon more than once that Thom is, in some ways, as good at court as Alan - as _Alanna_ was always awful at it. Thom's charming enough to get noticed, thick-skinned enough to ignore the usual handful of jibes, arrogant enough to invite himself into conversations he would never have been invited to join, and, above all, terribly, terribly clever.

It helps, Jon allows, that he's very pretty.

Handsome?

Ugh, this is just like trying to describe Alanna, only backwards. It doesn't help that they look so very much alike.

... _of course they look alike, you idiot_ , Jon scolds himself. _Have you somehow forgotten what 'twins' means?_

They're not alike enough to mistake for each other, of course - maybe they were once, as children, before their respective lifestyle choices crafted Alanna into the tough, scarred, solid man (woman!) that she is and Thom into the sharp-eyed, too-thin man buzzing with magic that he is. 

But the similarity is definitely _there_.

And, well. 

Jon still really likes Alanna, still savors the memory of her in his bed, still remembers details about her that he's pretty sure only a very select few other people know, and maybe that makes him a little more susceptible to Thom's unique brand of caustic charm than he might otherwise be.

Still, Jon's totally sure he's done a good job of not letting on about it.

Or, well, he's totally sure right up until there's a knock on his door late at night and he opens up the door to find Thom there, smiling.

"Um," Jon says, because showing up unannounced and uninvited like this is extremely rude and also he'd been in the middle of washing up. He considers shutting the door in Thom's face. 

"So, I heard you slept with my sister," Thom says conversationally.

Jon mutely opens the door further to let Thom walk in.

This outcome hadn't occurred to him - he'd gotten damnably used to Alan having no real family nearby except for Sir Myles, and Sir Myles wouldn't have said a word about it - but now that it _has_ , he's pretty sure that this is probably not a conversation he wants to be having in the middle of the hallway.

Thom walks in and waits for Jon to close the door.

"So," Jon says, trying on one of his political smiles. It feels strained on his face. "About that."

"About that," Thom agrees, then smiles, doing a much better job of it than Jon. "Did you know that Alanna and I have always been very competitive?"

Oh?

...oh.

Oh!

Well, then.

_My life_ , he reflects as he steps aside to let Thom in, _can be very hard sometimes_.

(The next morning, when Alanna howls, “I can’t believe you!” and punches him for five minutes straight while his supposedly loyal knights – namely, Raoul and Gary – laugh mercilessly at him and tell him he deserves it, it occurs to Jon that maybe it’s time to start considering long-term consequences before doing things.)


End file.
